Collector for electric tramroads or railroads.



No. 727,068. l PATENTED MAY 5, 1903.

A. BOLZANO'."

GOLLEGTOR FOR ELECTRIC TRAMROADS 0R RAILROADS.

APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 23, 1902. no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

TH: mums PETERS 00., moroumo. WASHINGTON, n. c.

N0. 727,068. PATENTBD MAY 5, 1903.

A. BOLZANO. COLLECTOR FOR ELECTRIC TRAMROADS 07R RAILROADS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 23, 1902.

2 SHEETB-SKEET 2- N0 MODEL.

Patented May 5, 1903.

PAT NT 01mins.

ANDRE BOLZANO, OF MUNICH, GERMANY.

COLLECTOR FOR ELECTRIC TRAMROADS 'OR RAILROADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part; Of Letters Patent N 0. 727,068, dated May 5, 1903. Application filed December 23, 1902 Serial No. 136.393. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LANDRE BOLZANO, civil engineer, a subject of the King of Bavaria, residing at Munich, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire, have invented a new and useful Conductor and Collector for Elec- Iric Tramroads or Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in conductors and collectors for electric tramroads and railroads; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide an open channel laid parallel to the rails and insulated in the soil; second, to provide a working conductor in said open channel; third, to provide a collector-casing open at the bottom, which is yieldingly suspended from the bottom of a motor-car and arranged to bear on the road-level; fourth, to provide two contact-levers within said collector-casing and reaching downward into said open channel and arranged to bear against said working conductor; fifth, to provide meansfor yieldingly and electrically connecting said two contact-levers with the controller of the motor-car, and, sixth, to fill said open channel and said collector-casing with a fatty mixture for insuring the safe conduction of the current without sparking, short circuits, and decompositions of the water independently of the weather and for protecting said 'contact-levers against moisture. I attain these objects by the arrangements illustrated in a mode of execution in the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure l is a vertical cross-section through the upper part of a tramroad with the open channel and through a collector, and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section th'rough'the same.

Similar letters of reference refer to simila parts in the two views.

My invention relates to a collector with extensible contact-levers which are pressed against a subterranean working conductor and are connected with the cont-roller of the motor-car.

The essential feature of the invention is that the casing containing the contact-levers and the open channel containing the working conductor are filled with a fatty mixture, preferably a mixture of glycerin and vaseline, to insure the safe conduction of the current without sparking and independently of the weather. Without sparking can only be obtained with certainty if the channel remains always and uniformly filled with the fatty mixture and if water is prevented from entering thechaunel. For this purpose and for preventing short circuits and decompositions of the Water the, collector-casing is filled with a fatty mixture, which surrounds the contact-levers also above the channel top surface up to the upper edge of the casing and remains inconstant contact with the fatty mixture in the channel. Thus the contact-levers are inclosed from their lowermost edges to the upper edge of the casing by an insulating and uniformly viscous matter, which prevents sparking, short circuits, and decompositions of the Water. The fatty mixture is preferably a mixture of glycerin and Vaseline, so as to prevent it from congealing and to preserve its viscous state, so that it cannot flow out of the collector-casing or flow off the channel in the lower parts of the road. This state of the fatty mixture will also enable the latter to again close in the channel after the passage of the contact-levers. To insure a safe contact between the fillings in the channel and in the collector-casing and to remedy any small recesses and projections on the surface of the mixture in the channel, the mixture in the collector-casing may be subjected to pressure, so as to shave 0d the surface of the closing mixture in the channel, which will then be smooth.

The special mixture of glycerin and vaseline is intended to combine the insulating and constant nature of the glycerin with the water-repulsing property of the Vaseline and to preserve the viscous condition. Vaseline, a salve having a melting-point varying from 27 to 35 Celsius, becomes so viscous at a high temperature that it cannot flow down an inclined plane and that dirt on the surface of the mixture in the channel cannot sink deeply. At a mean and a lower temperature it is necessary to add so much glycerin to the Vaseline as to retain this condition and to prevent the mixture from congealing. Glycerin has a great dielectric resistance and will annihilate any sparks. As

The conduction of the current the specific weight of the Vaseline is less than that of the glycerin it follows that an emulsion of glycerin and Vaseline will also float on the glycerin and that the lower part of the channel, through which the lower ends of the contact-levers move, can be filled with glycerin. Owing to the difference in specific weight, there is a tendency of the mixture dividing itself into its component parts. The tendency is counteracted by the agitation of the mixture by the moving contact-levers and certain guiding parts connected therewith. In case water gets at the mixture of glycerin and Vaseline the glycerin on the surface will be washed away and only the vaseline remains, which does take up the water. Thus the Vaseline prevents the glycerin in the lower part of the channel from coming upward and the water from penetrating downward.

With reference to the drawings the collector essentially consists of a sliding contact device and a casing f, surrounding the same, which is guided along the channel and suspended from the bottom of a motor-car and filled with fatty mixture 1), (preferably a mixture of glycerin and Vaseline.) By means of two rocking crank-levers and weights 'n, the sliding contact-bars e are pressed against the working conductor 0. Between the two bell-crank levers a conducting-plate is arranged, which is connected with long car-conductors and binding-posts, disengaging themselves in case of mishaps.

The collector-casing f is yieldingly and movably suspended from the motor-car by means of ropes h, counterweights k, and springs Preferably a layer 01 of insulating material is placed on the bottom or web of the working conductor 0 to prevent any current from being led off by foreign matters that may get into the channel by accident. Said conductor is suitably connected in an electric circuit conventionally represented in Fig. 1 by the usual positive and negative signs. Projections 1) on the ends of the casing fserve for throwing out any foreign matters that may have got into the channel. The cellular guides g, formed each of two side plates and several cross-plates, serve for guiding the casing f and are so shaped as to allow of the mixture of glycerin and Vaseline passing through during the motion of the motor-car. The cross-plates of the guides g within the channel may be omitted to reduce the friction. These guides g serve at the same time for agitating the fatty mixture in the channel before the collector, so as to prevent the glycerin from detaching itself from the Vaseline and to always preserve these two component parts in their proper mixed condition, which is necessary for the conduction of the current without sparking and for preventing the mixture from congealing and for avoiding any decompositions of the water. Where it is so preferred, a layer q of a spongy or similar material may be placed at the bottom end of the casing f; but this is not absolutely necessary, because the viscous nature of the mixture prevents the latter from flowing out.

In tramroads it may be of advantage to render the whole motor-car without current and to detach the contact-levers e from the working conductor 0 when the car is at rest. For this purpose a lever fastened on the axle m and connected by a rope or the like with a hand-lever on the drivers platform may be used to raise and to lower the weights 'n of the contact-levers.

The casing f is guided by two vertical guides 0, secured to the bottom of the motor-car. In case the motor-car should get 06 the rails the casingf will be released by the guides o.

The weights 11. may be replaced by springs, in which case the contact-levers 6 will be pressed against the working conductor 0 by means of springs.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric tramroad or railroad, the combination with an open channel laid parallel to the rails and insulated in the soil, of a working conductor within said open channel, a casingf suspended from a motor-car above said open channel and bearing on the road-level, two contact-levers arranged within said casing, means for pressing the lower ends of said contact-levers against said working conductor, and a fatty mixture (preferably a mixture of glycerin and Vaseline) filling up said open channel and said casing, substantially as set forth.

2. In an electric railway, the combination of a slotted conduit, a conductor within said conduit, a movable contact extending into the conduit to bear against the conductor therein, and a mixture of vaseline and glycerin filling the conduit, for the purpose specified. 3. In an electric railway, the combination of a slotted conduit, a conductor within said conduit, a fatty mixture filling said'conduit, a movable contact extending into the conduit to bear against the conductor therein, and means moving with said contact for maintaining the conduit full of said mixture.

IIO

4. In an electric railway, the combination 

